


Lessons

by VictoriaSinclair



Category: Emma Approved
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3549965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriaSinclair/pseuds/VictoriaSinclair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harriet and Martin go on a slightly unconventional date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of the Classic Alice fan perks initiative! It was commissioned by Tumblr user tardisandcinnamon. Hope you like it!

"So it's basically like a flea market, but all computer stuff?" Harriet asked as she looked around, a little wary. Martin had just paid for their tickets and now they were inside the gates of the quarterly computer show he frequented. He'd mentioned it to her before - she knew he often found good deals there on hardware he needed for various clients as well as for his own personal use - but she hadn't really been sure what to expect. From the entrance, it looked like endless rows of vendors with a mishmash of computer pieces and other electronics, some clearly well-organized and some decidedly not, with some food stalls sprinkled around, and maybe a few people selling toys and gadgets and other random stuff she couldn't quite identify.

"Basically," Martin said. He looked around a little nervously, suddenly seeing the event through Harriet's eyes. "I swear there's some good stuff mixed in with the junk."

"I'm sure."

"Sorry. This was a terrible date idea. I don't know what I was thinking." What he had been thinking was that this was one of the few Saturdays Harriet had completely free of Emma Approved events and he'd wanted to spend it with her, but when Harriet had seen the computer show flier on his fridge she'd insisted that she didn't want him to cancel his plans just because she had the day off. So here they were, together.

"It was not a terrible idea," Harriet insisted.

"This place would absolutely not be Emma Approved."

"Guess what?" Harriet stepped closer to whisper in his ear. " _I don't care._ "

Martin gasped in mock shock.

"Emma means well, but I think we've firmly established that she does not always know what's best for me," Harriet said as she pulled Martin in for a kiss.

"Mmm," he murmured against her lips. "Well, that's a relief. But seriously, we can leave as soon as you get bored."

"Okay, but I never said this looked boring. Just . . . different." They'd been dating for about a month, and things were going well so far, but sometimes Harriet was very aware of the way she and her boyfriend basically existed in different worlds a lot of the time. She was sure they could make those worlds come together, could keep finding - or creating - common ground, but it wouldn't happen unless they actually made an effort.

"Okay . . ." Martin clearly wasn't quite convinced.

"And you can . . . show me stuff."

"Show you stuff?"

"Computer stuff. I mean . . ." Harriet gestured toward a long table boasting an array of graphics cards, fans, and fancy cases for gaming systems. "I've never really seen the _inside_ of a computer before. You can show me what all the parts look like."

Martin started to smile, then looked at her quizzically. "Wait. Are you serious?"

"Yeah, of course."

"You don't . . . you don't have to care about this stuff just because I'm into it. It's my job. You don't give me lessons on picking menus and flowers for parties."

"Well, I _could_ . . ." Harriet joked. "But no. I like learning new things. And you know I like what I've learned about fixing my own computer." As the words came out of her mouth, she realized how much she meant them - it wasn't just about understanding Martin's world. She really was curious to see what all these computer parts she'd vaguely heard of looked like.

"Okay." He smiled for real now. "Let's start with RAM!"

 

As they moved through the rows of tables and stalls, Harriet began to feel a little self-conscious. She'd noticed as soon as they'd arrived that the crowd was predominantly male, and there were more than a few eyes on her as they walked through the show. Harriet was used to people looking at her occasionally - no one trained by Emma Woodhouse could be entirely unused to commanding attention when she entered a room - but what bugged her was the impression she got that people felt she didn't belong.

It was worse when she stopped to actually look at things. When Martin was with her, the vendors paid attention to him. When she was even a few steps away from him, she was either invisible or got called "honey" a lot and directed to candy-colored phone accessories. And sure, maybe she didn't know as much about computers as most of the customers, but it wasn't like people could actually know that by looking at her - and her money was just as good as anyone's.

While Martin watched a demonstration of some kind of fancy system case lights, Harriet wandered to the next stall to look at multi-device charging docks. Emma had mentioned wanting a more streamlined way to charge clients' devices while they met with her, and Harriet had planned to research options online, but seeing them in person was definitely helpful.

But when she finally got the vendor's attention to ask if he had documentation that included a list of devices guaranteed to work with the docks, he just laughed. "You don't need something that complex to charge your iPhone, honey."

"No, I - "

But the man was gone, back to chatting with his buddies.

Just then Martin appeared by her side and saw the look on her face. "Everything okay?"

"Clearly this gentleman doesn't want our business," Harriet said just loudly enough to be overheard. She grabbed Martin's arm. "Buy me a pretzel?"

The vendor just stared after her.

 

By the time they'd made it through all the vendors and gone back to make a few last minute purchases for Martin's clients, Harriet had to admit that she was exhausted and had probably seen enough computer bits for one day.

Martin squeezed her hand as they walked toward the exit. "It was awesome having you here. I hope you had an okay time."

"No, it's been fun. Really."

"Even with the way some of these guys treated you?"

Harriet shrugged. "Whatever. I'd like to think I surprised some of them."

"Oh, you did." Martin leaned in and brushed a quick kiss across her lips.

"It's certainly been _educational_."

" _Exactly_ what you want dates to be." Martin shook his head ruefully. "I'm terrible at this."

"You are _not._ "

"What now?" he asked as they neared the car. "Hungry?"

"That pretzel wasn't all that filling," Harriet allowed. "I think we passed a cute-looking old fashioned ice cream parlor on the way here . . ."

Martin grinned. "Ice cream it is."

"And then maybe you can come back to my place . . ."

He raised an eyebrow.

" . . . and we can start those party planning lessons you asked for."

 


End file.
